Cable Beach’s fifth hole
Advice for low handicappers
Days after playing the Sheraton Cable Beach Golf Course, visiting golfers will remember the scenic but dangerous fifth hole.
It’s a 425-yard par-four dogleg left around a pond that has swallowed up thousands of errant golf balls. It’s the number-one handicap hole, meaning it’s the most difficult of the first nine holes at the Cable Beach layout.
Yet, says Chris Lewis, the affable director of golf at Cable Beach, the fifth’s not at all hard for a good player to par. The most important decision an accomplished player can make, he says, is to “leave the driver in the bag.
“Long hitters want to challenge the hole and hit the ball over the water ahead of the 150-yard marker,” says Lewis.
That’s risky. “If you are a little right of perfect with your driver, the ball can easily bounce into the woods on the far side of the fairway. Too far left and the water comes into play,” says Lewis. Thus, with just a slight mistake with the driver, a golfer can easily take five shots, or even six, on the hole.
To demonstrate, Lewis took a break from his busy day in the pro shop to demonstrate the proper way to play the fifth hole. He chose a three wood and placed two balls safely in the fairway, about 160 yards from the green. On the third, to demonstrate a riskier shot, he played a draw. The ball curved left and came to rest much closer to the hole but also perilously close to the water. “I was just lucky,” he says with a smile.
Lewis put one ball on the green and just missed making a birdie putt. The other two approach shots fell short of the green. He chipped up and sank both, scoring three pars on three balls.
Lewis says high handicappers, even those who are long hitters, should plan on making three safe shots to the green, rather than two risky ones–even if that means hitting an iron off the tee.
“If you are close to the pin on your third shot, you still have a chance at par.” If not, you still get away from the dreaded fifth hole with a bogey–not too shabby for the less accomplished golfer.
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ActivitiesGolf_WTDNJan10
Cable Beach’s fifth hole
Advice for low handicappers
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